One of the most common questions among supervisors and administrators is how Atom decides which agent to assign a new conversation to. Although it may seem like a random process, it actually follows quite precise logic.
🧠 How does the Assignment Logic work?
1️⃣ Returning Customers (Conversation Reactivation) When a customer writes again, the system tries to assign them to the last agent who attended to them, as long as that agent is connected and in an "assignable" status.
If the original agent is "Not assignable" (e.g., during their lunch break), the customer will be reassigned to another agent in the same group to avoid delaying service.
2️⃣ New Customers Conversations from customers interacting for the first time (or where reassignment does not apply) are distributed in a balanced and rotating manner among all agents who are online and in an "assignable" status.
This equitable distribution logic is known as Round Robin.
✅ Important Note: The order or time in which agents log in does not influence the assignment. It is possible for an agent who connects later to receive a conversation before another who was already active, due to Round Robin rotation.
🛠️ Troubleshooting: Why was a chat assigned this way?
If you have questions about an assignment, review this step-by-step:
Is the agent in assignable status? Atom only assigns chats to "Available" agents. Statuses like Training, Lunch, or Break prevent assignment.
Does the agent belong to the correct group? Conversations are assigned exclusively to agents within the group linked to the channel through which the customer entered (or the group defined in Flowbuilder).
Are special schedules configured? Check if the "Assign outside business hours" setting is enabled. This affects what happens when the team is not working.
⚙️ How to configure Reassignment to the same agent?
If you want customers to always speak with the same person who attended to them last time:
Go to the Settings > Conversations > Preferences module.
In the Assignment Configuration section, enable the option Reassign to the same agent if available.
Select the group(s) for which you want to apply this rule (you can choose one or multiple groups).
Click Save.
⚠️ Things to keep in mind about transfers:
You can transfer a chat to an agent in your same group, or transfer it to another group.
What cannot be done is transfer the conversation to another group and want to keep it assigned to yourself (the agent must belong to the receiving group).
👨🏫 Practical Example (Use Case)
The customer Carlos contacts via WhatsApp the "Support" group. In that group there are three agents: Lince, Draco, and Fénix.
Lince handled Carlos's last chat a week ago, but today is in "Training" (not assignable).
Draco and Fénix are Available.
The system acts as follows:
It detects that Lince (original agent) is not available.
Applies the Round Robin rule: If the last new assignment that came into the group was for Fénix, then Carlos will be assigned to Draco to balance the load.
If Draco does not respond within a certain time, the system (if configured) will pass it to Fénix to avoid waiting times.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Why are all chats going to a single agent? If this happens repeatedly, verify:
That the other agents in the group are actually in "assignable" status.
That they are not reactivations of customers who have already spoken with that particular agent.
When to contact technical support?
If chats are not being distributed fairly (Round Robin) among connected agents.
If your status is "Available" but you are not receiving any new conversations for extended periods, while your teammates are.
Fair distribution, quick service! 🚀
Understanding the assignment logic and Round Robin allows you to better manage your team, balance workloads, and ensure your customers are always attended by the right person. ✅